docs.sheetjs.com/docz/docs/03-demos/17-mobile/06-flutter.md

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---
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title: Let Data Fly with Flutter
sidebar_label: Dart + Flutter
description: Build data-intensive mobile apps with Dart + Flutter. Seamlessly integrate spreadsheets into your app using SheetJS. Securely process and generate Excel files on the go.
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pagination_prev: demos/static/index
pagination_next: demos/desktop/index
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sidebar_position: 6
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sidebar_custom_props:
summary: Dart + JS Interop
---
import current from '/version.js';
import CodeBlock from '@theme/CodeBlock';
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Dart[^1] + Flutter[^2] is a popular cross-platform app framework. JavaScript
code can be run through [embedded engines](/docs/demos/engines).
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[SheetJS](https://sheetjs.com) is a JavaScript library for reading and writing
data from spreadsheets.
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This demo uses Dart + Flutter and SheetJS to process spreadsheets. We'll explore
how to use the `flutter_js` package to run JavaScript code and how to pass data
between Dart code and the platform-specific JS engines.
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The "Demo" creates an app that looks like the screenshots below:
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<table><thead><tr>
<th><a href="#demo">iOS</a></th>
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<th><a href="#demo">Android</a></th>
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</tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>
![iOS screenshot](pathname:///flutter/ios.png)
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</td><td>
![Android screenshot](pathname:///flutter/and.png)
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</td></tr></tbody></table>
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:::note Tested Deployments
This demo was tested in the following environments:
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**Real Devices**
| OS | Device | Dart | Flutter | Date |
|:-----------|:------------------|:--------|:---------|:-----------|
| Android 29 | NVIDIA Shield | `3.2.2` | `3.16.2` | 2023-12-04 |
| iOS 15.1 | iPad Pro | `3.2.2` | `3.16.2` | 2023-12-04 |
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**Simulators**
| OS | Device | Dart | Flutter | Dev Platform | Date |
|:-----------|:------------------|:--------|:---------|:-------------|:-----------|
| Android 34 | Pixel 3a | `3.2.2` | `3.16.2` | `darwin-x64` | 2023-12-04 |
| iOS 17.0.1 | iPhone 15 Pro Max | `3.2.2` | `3.16.2` | `darwin-x64` | 2023-12-04 |
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:::
:::danger Telemetry
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Before starting this demo, manually disable telemetry. On MacOS:
```bash
dart --disable-telemetry
dart --disable-analytics
flutter config --no-analytics
flutter config --disable-telemetry
```
:::
## Integration Details
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:::note pass
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This demo assumes familiarity with Dart and Flutter.
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:::
For the iOS and Android targets, the `flutter_js` package[^3] wraps JavaScriptCore[^4]
and QuickJS[^5] engines respectively.
The [SheetJS Standalone scripts](/docs/getting-started/installation/standalone)
can be parsed and evaluated in the wrapped engines.
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### Loading SheetJS
#### Adding the scripts
The `flutter.assets` property in `pubspec.yaml` specifies assets. Assuming the
standalone script and shim are placed in the `scripts` folder, the following
snippet loads the scripts as assets:
```yaml title="pubspec.yaml"
flutter:
assets:
- scripts/xlsx.full.min.js
- scripts/shim.min.js
```
Once loaded, the contents can be loaded with `rootBundle.loadString`:
```dart
import 'package:flutter/services.dart' show rootBundle;
String shim = await rootBundle.loadString("scripts/shim.min.js");
String sheetjs = await rootBundle.loadString("scripts/xlsx.full.min.js");
```
#### Initialization
It is strongly recommended to add the engine to the state of a `StatefulWidget`:
```dart
import 'package:flutter_js/flutter_js.dart';
class SheetJSFlutterState extends State<SheetJSFlutter> {
// highlight-next-line
late JavascriptRuntime _engine;
@override void initState() {
// highlight-next-line
_engine = getJavascriptRuntime();
}
}
```
#### Running SheetJS Scripts
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Since fetching assets is asynchronous, it is recommended to create a wrapper
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`async` function and sequentially await each script:
```dart
class SheetJSFlutterState extends State<SheetJSFlutter> {
String _version = '0.0.0';
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late JavascriptRuntime _engine;
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@override void initState() {
_engine = getJavascriptRuntime();
_initEngine(); // note: this is not `await`-ed
}
Future<void> _initEngine() async {
/* fetch and evaluate the shim */
String shim = await rootBundle.loadString("scripts/shim.min.js");
_engine.evaluate(shim);
// highlight-start
/* fetch and evaluate the main script */
String sheetjs = await rootBundle.loadString("scripts/xlsx.full.min.js");
_engine.evaluate(sheetjs);
// highlight-end
/* capture the version string */
JsEvalResult vers = _engine.evaluate("XLSX.version");
setState(() => _version = vers.stringResult);
}
}
```
### Reading data
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The following diagram depicts the workbook waltz:
```mermaid
flowchart LR
file[(file data\nUint8List)]
subgraph SheetJS operations
base64(Base64\nstring)
wb((SheetJS\nWorkbook))
csv(CSV\nstring)
end
lld(List of\nLists)
tbl{{Data\nTable}}
file --> |`base64Encode`\nDart| base64
base64 --> |`XLSX.read`\nParse Bytes| wb
wb --> |`sheet_to_csv`\nExtract Data| csv
csv --> |`CsvToListConverter`\nDart| lld
lld --> |`Table`\nFlutter| tbl
```
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The most common binary data type in Dart is `Uint8List`. It is the data type
for `http.Response#bodyBytes` and the return type of `File#readAsBytes()`.
The Flutter JS connector offers no simple interop for `Uint8List` data. The data
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should be converted to Base64 using `base64Encode` before parsing.
Once passed into the JS engine, the SheetJS `read` function[^6] can read the
Base64-encoded string and the `sheet_to_csv` utility function[^7] can generate
a CSV string from a worksheet. This string can be pulled back into Dart code.
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The `csv` package provides a special `CsvToListConverter` converter to generate
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`List<List<dynamic>>` (Dart's spiritual equivalent of the array of arrays).
The following snippet generates `List<List<dynamic>>` from a Dart `Uint8List`:
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```dart
import 'dart:convert';
import 'package:csv/csv.dart';
class SheetJSFlutterState extends State<SheetJSFlutter> {
List<List<dynamic>> _data = [];
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late JavascriptRuntime _engine;
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void _processBytes(Uint8List bytes) {
String base64 = base64Encode(bytes);
JsEvalResult func = _engine.evaluate("""
var wb = XLSX.read('$base64');
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]);
""");
String csv = func.stringResult;
setState(() { _data = CsvToListConverter(eol: "\n").convert(csv); });
}
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}
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```
## Demo
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0) Follow the official "Install" instructions for Flutter[^8].
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Run `flutter doctor` and confirm the following items are checked:
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```
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 15.0.1)
[✓] Android Studio (version 2022.3)
```
(the actual version numbers may differ)
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<details open>
<summary><b>Installation Notes</b> (click to hide)</summary>
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:::note pass
On first run, there may be a warning with "Android toolchain":
```
[!] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
! Some Android licenses not accepted. To resolve this, run: flutter doctor
--android-licenses
```
As stated, the fix is to run the command:
```bash
flutter doctor --android-licenses
```
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:::
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:::note pass
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On first run, there may be a warning with "Xcode":
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```
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[!] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 15.0.1)
✗ Unable to get list of installed Simulator runtimes.
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```
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Open "Settings" panel in Xcode. Under "Platforms", click "Get" next to "iOS".
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:::
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:::caution pass
In local testing, there were issues with the Android toolchain:
```
error: Android sdkmanager not found. Update to the latest Android SDK and ensure that the cmdline-tools are installed to resolve this.
```
This was fixed by switching to Java 20, installing `Android SDK 33`, and rolling
back to `Android SDK Command-Line Tools (revision: 10.0)`
:::
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:::note pass
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If Google Chrome is not installed, `flutter doctor` will show an issue:
```
[✗] Chrome - develop for the web (Cannot find Chrome executable at
/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome)
! Cannot find Chrome. Try setting CHROME_EXECUTABLE to a Chrome executable.
```
If Chromium is installed, the environment variable should be manually assigned:
```bash
export CHROME_EXECUTABLE=/Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium
```
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:::
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</details>
Run `flutter emulators` and check for both `ios` and `android` emulators:
```
apple_ios_simulator • iOS Simulator • Apple • ios
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Pixel_3a_API_34 • Pixel 3a API 34 • Google • android
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```
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1) Disable telemetry.
```bash
dart --disable-telemetry
dart --disable-analytics
flutter config --no-analytics
flutter config --disable-telemetry
```
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### Base Project
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2) Create a new Flutter project:
```bash
flutter create sheetjs_flutter
cd sheetjs_flutter
```
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3) Start the Android emulator.
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<details open>
<summary><b>Details</b> (click to hide)</summary>
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**Android Studio**
In Android Studio, click "More actions" > "Virtual Device Manager". Look for the
emulated device in the list and click the ▶ button to play.
**Command Line**
List the available emulators with `flutter emulators`:
```
% flutter emulators
2 available emulators:
apple_ios_simulator • iOS Simulator • Apple • ios
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Pixel_3a_API_34 • Pixel 3a API 34 • Google • android
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^--- the first column is the name
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```
The first column shows the name that should be passed to `emulator -avd`. In a
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previous test, the name was `Pixel_3a_API_34` and the launch command was:
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```bash
emulator -avd Pixel_3a_API_34
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```
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:::note pass
On macOS, `~/Library/Android/sdk/emulator/` is the typical location for the
`emulator` binary. If it cannot be found, add the folder to `PATH`:
```bash
export PATH="$PATH":~/Library/Android/sdk/emulator
emulator -avd Pixel_3a_API_34
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```
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:::
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</details>
4) While the Android emulator is open, start the application:
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```bash
flutter run
```
<details>
<summary><b>If emulator is not detected</b> (click to show)</summary>
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In some test runs, `flutter run` did not automatically detect the emulator.
Run `flutter -v -d sheetjs run` and the command will fail. Inspect the output:
```text title="Command output"
// highlight-next-line
[ +6 ms] No supported devices found with name or id matching 'sheetjs'.
[ ] The following devices were found:
...
// highlight-next-line
[ +26 ms] sdk gphone64 arm64 (mobile) • emulator-5554 • android-arm64 • Android 13 (API 33) (emulator)
[ ] macOS (desktop) • macos • darwin-arm64 • macOS 13.5.1 22G90 darwin-arm64
...
```
Search the output for `sheetjs`. After that line, search for the emulator list.
One of the lines will correspond to the running emulator:
```
[ +26 ms] sdk gphone64 arm64 (mobile) • emulator-5554 • android-arm64 • Android 13 (API 33) (emulator)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^--- the second column is the name
```
The second column is the device name. Assuming the name is `emulator-5554`, run:
```bash
flutter -v -d emulator-5554 run
```
</details>
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Once the app loads, stop the terminal process and close the simulator.
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5) Install Flutter / Dart dependencies:
```bash
flutter pub add http csv flutter_js
```
6) Open `pubspec.yaml` with a text editor. Search for the line that starts with
`flutter:` (no whitespace) and add the highlighted lines:
```yaml title="pubspec.yaml"
# The following section is specific to Flutter packages.
flutter:
// highlight-start
assets:
- scripts/xlsx.full.min.js
- scripts/shim.min.js
// highlight-end
```
7) Download dependencies to the `scripts` folder:
<CodeBlock language="bash">{`\
mkdir -p scripts
cd scripts
curl -LO https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/package/dist/xlsx.full.min.js
curl -LO https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/package/dist/shim.min.js
cd ..`}
</CodeBlock>
8) Download [`main.dart`](pathname:///flutter/main.dart) to `lib/main.dart`:
```bash
curl -L -o lib/main.dart https://docs.sheetjs.com/flutter/main.dart
```
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### Android
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9) Start the Android emulator using the same instructions as Step 3.
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10) Launch the app:
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```bash
flutter run
```
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The app fetches https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers, parses, converts data to
an array of arrays, and presents the data in a Flutter `Table` widget.
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:::caution pass
When the demo was last run, there was a build error:
```
│ The plugin flutter_js requires a higher Android SDK version. │
│ Fix this issue by adding the following to the file /.../android/app/build.gradle: │
│ android { │
│ defaultConfig { │
│ minSdkVersion 21 │
│ } │
│ } │
```
This was fixed by editing `android/app/build.gradle`.
Searching for `minSdkVersion` should reveal the following line:
```text title="android\app\build.gradle"
minSdkVersion flutter.minSdkVersion
```
`flutter.minSdkVersion` should be replaced with `21`:
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```text title="android\app\build.gradle"
minSdkVersion 21
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```
:::
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11) Close the Android emulator.
### iOS
12) Start the iOS simulator.
13) Launch the app:
```bash
flutter run
```
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The app fetches https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers, parses, converts data to
an array of arrays, and presents the data in a Flutter `Table` widget.
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### Android Device
14) Connect an Android device using a USB cable.
If the device asks to allow USB debugging, tap "Allow".
15) Verify that `flutter` can find the device:
```bash
flutter devices
```
The list should include the device:
```
SheetJS (mobile) • 1234567890 • android-arm64 • Android 10 (API 29)
^^^^^^^--- the first column is the name
```
16) Build an APK:
```bash
flutter build apk --release
```
17) Install on the Android device:
```bash
flutter install
```
The script will ask for a device:
```
[1]: SheetJS (1234567890)
[2]: iPhone 15 Pro Max (12345678-9ABC-DEF0-1234-567890ABCDEF)
[3]: macOS (macos)
[4]: Chrome (chrome)
Please choose one (or "q" to quit):
```
Select the number corresponding to the device.
18) Launch the installed `sheetjs_flutter` app on the device
:::caution pass
The app may take 30 seconds to load the content.
**There are known bugs in the Dart HTTP client in Android 12[^9].**
:::
### iOS Device
19) Follow the official "Deploy to physical iOS devices" instructions[^10]
20) Connect the iOS device and verify that `flutter` can find the device:
```bash
flutter devices
```
The list should include the device:
```
SheetPad (mobile) • 00000000-0000000000000000 • ios • iOS 15.1 19B74
^^^^^^^^--- the first column is the name
```
21) Run the program on the device:
```bash
flutter run -d SheetPad
```
[^1]: https://dart.dev/ is the official site for the Dart Programming Language.
[^2]: https://flutter.dev/ is the official site for the Flutter Framework.
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[^3]: [The `flutter_js` package](https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_js) is hosted on the Dart package repository.
[^4]: See [the dedicated "Swift + JavaScriptCore" demo](/docs/demos/engines/jsc) for more details.
[^5]: See [the dedicated "C + QuickJS" demo](/docs/demos/engines/quickjs) for more details.
[^6]: See [`read` in "Reading Files"](/docs/api/parse-options)
[^7]: See [`sheet_to_csv` in "CSV and Text"](/docs/api/utilities/csv#delimiter-separated-output)
[^8]: See [the Flutter Installation Instructions](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install)
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[^9]: For example, [Issue 836 in the `http` repository](https://github.com/dart-lang/http/issues/836) mentions that API calls may take 10+ seconds. This is an issue in Dart + Flutter.
[^10]: See ["Deploy to physical iOS devices"](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/macos?tab=ios15#deploy-to-physical-ios-devices) in the Flutter documentation